Jusco blames heat

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Jamshedpur Utilities Services Company (Jusco), the Tata Steel subsidiary that looks after Jayanti Sarovar, informed Jharkhand High Court on Thursday that extreme heat had caused around 200 fish to die in the water body on May 5.

The civic guardian of Tata Steel areas also claimed that experts had been pressed into action to preserve aquatic life in the lake, the steel cityís thermo-regulator that has come under the glare of green crusaders for high pollution level.

Jusco made the submissions in an affidavit after notices were issued to it in a PIL initiated suo motu by a division bench of Chief Justice R. Banumathi and Justice S. Chandrashekhar on May 8.

Jusco counsel and senior advocate M.S. Mittal informed the court that Jamshedpur witnessed very high temperatures in the past week, which caused the death of 200 fish in Jayanti Sarovar.

ďA team of experts from Calcutta is due to visit the lake and study the properties of the water and its surroundings to decide what needs to be done to preserve fish and other aquatic life there. As many as 25 skilled labourers have also been appointed by Jusco from today (Thursday) to clean water hyacinth and algae, which has spread all over the lake,Ē the advocate pleaded.

In a separate affidavit, East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Amitabh Kaushal, who also received a court notice, claimed that Jusco had swung into action and was taking steps to clean the water body.

Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB), in its affidavit, claimed that it had served notices on Jusco and summoned its officials.